James Foley; Truth teller

August 20. 2014 9:36PMJames Foley of Rochester, a war correspondent who repeatedly risked his life to tell stories few others had the courage to tell, has been immortalized. The savages who executed him to try to save their own lives — he was killed in an attempt to end the rain of American bombs — will vanish into history, hidden by their masks and their primitive brutality.

Long after they are forgotten, James Foley’s name will shine on as a beacon of freedom and humanity.

“We believe he was a martyr, a martyr for freedom,” Foley’s father said on Wednesday. Foley was precisely that, which is how he will be remembered always.

James Foley lived to tell the truth. He gave up a comfortable teaching job for the dangerous life of a foreign correspondent. It was in his character to take risks so that others would better understand the world in which they live.

His martyrdom has given the world a perfect understanding of the evil it faces in the group that calls itself the Islamic State. Let us now act on that understanding and no longer pretend that this evil can be dismissed.